NIO Capital Updates

▌NIO Capital Honored by Chinese Media Platform 36kr 

NIO Capital was recognized as one of the Top 100 Venture Capital Institutions in China. The award was a key part of the China Venture Capital Annual Ranking (China 100) 2024 released by 36Kr, a Chinese media platform that focuses on Chinese startups and new economy enterprises. Meanwhile, NIO Capital partner Ian Zhu was named among the Top 100 Best Investors Voted by Entrepreneurs in the China 100 ranking, where the winning investors were selected by 36Kr after nearly two months of data collection and word-of-mouth research.

 

▌NIO Capital Holds 2024 CEO Club Training Camp 

NIO Capital's CEO Club has kicked off the fourth “From Good to Great” training camp. Focusing on corporate culture, the inaugural event of this year’s training camp contained a series of innovative activities that helped founders and senior executives reflect on themselves, their teams, and organizations and integrate corporate culture into their management capabilities, communications, and systems. Wendy Ling, Managing Director of NIO Capital, shared the thoughts and logic behind the design of the training camp, with the possibility trinity of “strategy-organization-people” as the focal point. More than one hundred senior executives from NIO Capital’s portfolio companies participated in the past three sessions of the training camp.

 

 

▌Experts Elaborate on New Capital Market Guidelines at NIO Capital’s CEO Club

NIO Capital's CEO Club invited banking, legal and financial experts to elaborate on the highlights of the State Council’s nine-point guidelines on the capital market. As part of the CEO Club’s series of industry empowerment events, the seminar aimed to direct companies’ development in a more targeted and effective way. 

 

 

Portfolio Updates

IPO Updates

▌Dida Inc Goes Public in Hong Kong 

China ride-sharing app operator Dida Inc (02559.HK) was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 28, marking the first Chinese IPO by a mobile travel platform. Users of Dida Inc’s ride-sharing service helped to cut carbon emissions by 1.3 million tons in 2023, which was equivalent to planting 1.6 million acres of trees. 

 

Business Updates

▌Pony.ai Starts to Charge Fares for Robotaxi Service in Beijing

Autonomous driving technology company Pony.ai has received a permit to charge fares for its robotaxi service between Daxing International Airport and Yizhuang District in Beijing. Pony.ai is among the first batch of companies to receive this commercial permit, which allows autonomous driving services on the city’s highways and expressways with humans at the driver’s seat. Pony.ai plans to charge fixed prices for the pick-up services based on the urban taxi pricing scheme in the city, waiving off additional highway toll fees. 

 

▌Seyond Boosts Smart Mobility

NIO deploys six high-performing LiDARs, the Seyond Robin W, on the left, right and back sides of each of its fourth-generation battery swapping stations. With a wide field of view (FOV), Robin W can omni-directionally detect the surrounding environment of the battery swapping stations and provide reliable perception information for the vehicles automatically parking in the stations.

The L4 autonomous driving vending and charging vehicles developed by Chinese automaker JAC Motors have entered the stage of demonstrative operation. The two innovative vehicles come with Seyond’s Robin W hybrid solid-state LiDAR sensor, a high-performing automotive grade LiDAR that features ultra-wide field of view. Seyond has delivered 260,000 automotive grade LiDARs that have been widely validated by the market. 

 

 

▌PCG Power Helps Glass Manufacturer Go Green

The 8MW distributed photovoltaic power generation project for Chongqing Huaxing Glass Manufacturing Company, built by comprehensive energy management service provider PCG Power, has successfully connected to the power grid. Within 25 years after completion, the 40,000 m² project is expected to generate 3.4 million kWh of green electricity annually. Compared with a coal-fired power station of the same capacity, the project will save 1,037.55 tons of standard coal and cut 2,717.52 tons of CO2 emission annually, equivalent to planting 151,000 trees every year.

 

▌YKC Partners with CRCC Subsidiaries on Urban Charging Solutions

Comprehensive energy management service provider YKC and two subsidiaries of China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) have won the bid to install EV charging piles and build parking lots on the 14 land plots along the metro lines in Kunming, Yunnan Province. The three winning parties will also set up a comprehensive cloud platform for tariff management. They will fully push forward the charging infrastructure investment, construction and operation along the city’s metro lines in the next 10 years, creating a city-level charging solution.

▌Black Sesame Technologies Empowers Dongfeng’s SUV

The Huashan A1000 chip, produced by vehicle computing chip provider Black Sesame Technologies, empowers the high-level intelligence of Dongfeng Motor’s latest SUV eπ008. A single Huashan A1000 chip can support both the driving and parking functions, making it the most mature and widely adopted single-chip driving and parking integration platform in the market. The chip has been successfully deployed to multiple mass-produced car models.

 

▌BIBO Mass Produces Brake-by-wire System

Intelligent chassis solution provider BIBO started to mass produce and deliver its integrated brake-by-wire system BIBC (One-Box) to leading Chinese OEMs in June, following the small batch shipment of the product in 2023. BIBO has reached cooperation with a dozen of leading OEMs, and its BIBC system, with an annual capacity of 500,000 sets, has become the designated component in over 10 projects.

 

 

Cooperations & Partnerships

▌Newrizon Enters Strategic Cooperation with Wuhan Weineng Battery Asset

Electric commercial vehicle manufacture Newrizon and Wuhan Weineng Battery Asset (“Weineng”) have reached strategic cooperation to team up in the areas of battery technology, data intelligence and asset management. Newrizon will leverage the partner’s expertise in battery asset management to enhance the performance and quality of its new energy vehicles, while Weineng will expand the application scenarios and business footprint of its battery asset management service through the cooperation.

 

 

▌Momenta and GAC Toyota Collaborate on Advanced Smarting Driving Solution

GAC Toyota, a joint venture between Toyota and China’s GAC Group, and Momenta, a Chinese autonomous driving tech company, will collaborate on an end-to-end advanced smart driving solution that will debut on GAC Toyota’s bZ3X model. Based on the data-driven AI flywheel, the solution will provide users with a safe and reliable smart driving experience in all scenarios, including parking, highway and city driving. 

 

▌Pony.ai Attends GAC Toyota Tech Open Day 

Autonomous driving technology company Pony.ai provided robotaxi service at the GAC Toyota Tech Open Day and displayed the bZ4X robotaxi concept car with Pony.ai’s seventh generation of autonomous driving technology at the event. Pony.ai and Toyota plan to produce 1,000 bZ4X robotaxis in 2025-26 and ramp up unmanned travel services in first-tier cities.

 

▌Shi Ji Yun An Joins Hands with YKC

Charging solutions provider and operator Shi Ji Yun An and comprehensive energy management service provider YKC signed an agreement on the operation and management of the EV charging services platform. The two parties will cooperate on the comprehensive design and application of the charging operation and management system, creating an ecosystem for the charging business. They will also achieve real-time monitoring, intelligent scheduling, and efficient maintenance of charging piles through advanced technologies, such as big data analysis and cloud computing, which will greatly enhance the operation efficiency and user experience of the charging facilities.

 

 

▌Eacon and Seyond to Drive for Intelligent Mining

Autonomous haulage solutions provider Eacon equips its extended-range unmanned mining truck ET100 with the image-grade, ultra-long-range LiDAR Falcon produced by Seyond, a leading provider of high-performance LiDAR sensors and solutions. With the help of Seyond's forward-looking sensors, Zhushan, Eacon’s autonomous driving solution for open-pit mines, has been deployed to more than 10 mining areas, all of which have achieved 24/7 operations.

 

▌Autolink Announces Strategic Cooperation with GYMD Digital Technology

Autolink, a provider of smart cockpit software and hardware, and GYMD Digital Technology, a digital tech subsidiary of Geely Holding, have reached a strategic cooperation. The two parties will employ the low-code modules and data middle platform on GYMD’s digital infrastructure to jointly develop a digital, smart management platform for intelligent vehicles. Eyeing Industry 4.0, they will further explore the in-depth application of software tools, including the cutting-edge information system ranging from the MES, WMS, IoT, QMS, APS and the carbon peaking and neutrality platform.

 

 

▌BIBO Partners with Motion Technology

Intelligent chassis solution provider BIBO and vehicle motion control solution provider Motion Technology signed a strategic cooperation agreement. Under the agreement, the two parties will comprehensively cooperate in the field of electro-mechanical braking (EMB) to enhance their tech edges in the next-generation smart chassis. They will also jointly research on integrated chassis control technology to accelerate the mass production of EMB products.

 

 

▌SICHAIN Semiconductor Teams Up with SiPower

Silicon Carbide (SiC) semiconductor producer SICHAIN Semiconductor signed a strategic cooperation agreement with power module producer SiPower. Under the agreement, the two parties will customize the development of SiC chips for automotive motor-driven power modules and power supply modules. SICHAIN Semiconductor will support SiPower to upgrade innovations and enhance product performance in the field of automotive SiC power modules, helping SiPower to develop more advanced, efficient, and reliable SiC solutions for new energy vehicles.

 

 

▌Aulton New Energy Attends Industry Conference on Electric Vehicle Standards

Battery swapping solution provider Aulton New Energy attended the annual China-Japan conference on electric vehicle standards and regulations, which was jointly held by China Automotive Standardization Research Institute and Japan Automobile Research Institute. About 30 experts from the two countries’ new energy vehicle OEMs, power battery enterprises and industry organizations discussed the standardization work of electric vehicles. As of May 2024, Aulton New Energy has contributed to three international standards, 16 national standards, 32 industrial standards and 48 group standards.

 

Global Expansion

▌NIO Capital’s Portfolio Companies Shine at SNEC and Intersolar Europe 2024

Solar panel manufacturer Sunman Energy and solar energy storage solution and service provider AlphaESS exhibited their innovative products at the two industry gatherings for the world’s new energy industry, the 2024 International Photovoltaic Power Generation and Smart Energy Conference & Exhibition (SNEC) in Shanghai and the Intersolar Europe 2024 in Munich, Germany. Comprehensive energy management service provider PCG Power also attended the SNEC for the first time. 

 

After years of iteration, China's new energy products are serving the global market with high quality, high performance, and cost effectiveness, said Carl Guan, Managing Director of NIO Capital. “We are delighted to find that these products are integrating with the global technologies and supply chain and jointly promote global low-carbon initiatives. We believe that new energy vehicles, photovoltaic energy, energy storage and battery charging and swapping products will continue to contribute to the sustainable development of mankind.”

 

 

▌Momenta CEO Delivers Speech at Summer Davos 2024

Cao Xudong, CEO of Momenta, delivered a keynote speech entitled Autonomous Driving at Large Scale: Challenges and Practices at the Summer Davos 2024 in Dalian, Liaoning Province. Momenta has built a full-process, data-driven R&D system and algorithm architecture and adopted an end-to-end large model for intelligent driving, which unleashes the full potential of artificial intelligence and efficiently solves the long tail problems in autonomous driving. 

 

▌Newrizon Strikes Deals with UAE Logistics Company

Electric commercial vehicle manufacturer Newrizon and a renowned logistics firm from the United Arab Emirates signed a memorandum of understanding and a letter of intent for 100 electric commercial vehicles. As a startup automaker that focuses on intelligent and connected new energy commercial vehicles, Newrizon has launched the EC1 and IC1 new energy light trucks and built a complete energy replenishment system. After establishing battery swapping stations for new energy light trucks, Newrizon now has business exposure to intelligent driving, intelligent and connected vehicles and intelligent interaction.

 

▌Standard Robots Attends NEPCON Thailand 2024

Industry robot maker Standard Robots exhibited its one-stop industrial logistics solution at NEPCON Thailand 2024, the largest electronics expo in Southeast Asia. It displayed the systematic solutions for specialized industries, such as the surface-mount technology (SMT), printed circuit board (PCB) industries, as well as for specialized application scenarios, such as the flat handling of large loads.

 

▌United Winners Dazzles Industry Expos at Home and Abroad

United Winners, a supplier of laser welding equipment and intelligent manufacturing solutions, presented its matrix of intelligent manufacturing equipment for hydrogen fuel cells at the International Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Vehicle Congress & Exhibition 2024 (FCVC2024) in Shanghai. It also showcased the customized product mix and intelligent solutions for hydrogen energy manufacturing equipment. 

 

At The Battery Show Europe in Stuttgart, Germany, United Winners exhibited its full production line solutions for new energy enterprises, ranging from lithium battery cell manufacturing, (battery) module/pack assembly, intelligent motor drive production line for new energy vehicles, smart factory with manufacturing execution system (MES) and hydrogen energy equipment. United Winners has covered the mainstream battery technologies for prismatic, cylindrical and pouch cells. It also has more than one thousand full production line solutions for the middle and end process in battery manufacturing for new energy battery enterprises all over the world, including leading lithium battery companies. 

 

 

Sustainability Practices

▌Inceptio Technology Awarded for Green Development in Supply Chain

Inceptio Technology, a developer of autonomous driving technologies for heavy-duty trucks, won the 2023-2024 ECR Green Development Project Award at the China Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) Conference. The award recognized Inceptio Technology’s cooperation with Shanghai UT Logitistics for the green, autonomous-driving commercial logistics. The China ECR conference, jointly hosted by Article Numbering Center of China and China ECR Professional Committee, is one of most influential conferences in the field of supply chain in the country.

 

 

Honors & Awards

▌NIO Capital’s Portfolio Companies Named Among KPMG’s New Energy Tech 50

NIO Capital’s portfolio companies, Welion, AlphaESS and PCG Power, featured on the list of (China) New Energy Tech 50, the first of such ranking released by KPMG, a global network of professional firms providing audit, tax, and advisory services. The ranking focused on the four new energy segments of energy storage, hydrogen power, renewable energy, and smart grid. It comprehensively evaluated the core capabilities of the candidate companies through five key assessment dimensions and more than a dozen of indicators.

 

▌MeriTech Obtains ISO Certification on Functional Safety

High-performing chip provider MeriTech has received the ISO 26262:2018 certification from SGS, the world’s leading testing, inspection, and certification company. The certification signifies that MeriTech has established a development process for functional safety that follows the requirements of ISO 26262: 2018, and its development and management process system for functional safety reaches the highest “ASIL D” grade of the certification.

 

▌BoCloud Ranks 5th in China’s Container Infrastructure Software Market

BoCloud, a provider of professional cloud computing services for enterprise clients, ranked fifth in terms of its size in China’s container infrastructure software market, according to the PRC Container Infrastructure Software Market Overview and Analysis, 2023H2 released by the global market intelligence firm IDC. IDC highly recognized BoCloud’s tech innovation, as it launched the AIOS to support AI training scenarios.